I have been sewing....

A LOT. I have become one with my sewing machine again and have been trying all sorts of new repurposing projects and I even made TWO dresses from patterns of all things! Yes A PATTERN!!!



since Kamy is my one that is home the most time, she gets to be guinea pig :) I have been bookmarking lots of blogs as well to inspire me and thought I would share them with you to see if you are inspired as well...

Make It and Love It...this gal is SUPER inspiring and can make something out of pretty much ANYTHING!
Ruffles and Stuff...LOTS of very very cute ideas for little girls
Matilda Jane...not a repurposed site but a website for selling dresses. Their color palette and mixture of patterns is DIVINE and their pictures are gorgeous!
My Mama made it...another FABULOUSLY inspirational site for repurposing clothing!

I know this has started an obsession that will hopefully continue and I will get 'good' enough that I will even let the kiddies wear the clothes I make OUTSIDE of the home :)
Sty tuned for in two days is the January release for the Jenni Bowlin Studios papercrafting kit and design team creations! I have barely had time to scrap since the holidays let alone even get all my pictures uploaded to possibly scrap them...but promise to have layouts done already with the kit....YUMMMMMMY!

Revisions to the etsy store...

and SLASHED prices!!

You can see my etsy store right here!!

Now off to try and warm up by the fire...-3 degrees is waaay too cold!

Snow and LOTS OF IT!!

Last week my little home and pretty much most of Iowa was SLAMMED with snow and blizzard conditions shutting down school for 3 /12 days and making us a prisoner in our own homes. NOTHING necessary got done, just a lot of me being activities coordinatore for all the kids here making sure they stayed out of mischief, which seems to happen when they get bored :) We actually got to play in the snow before the temps dropped to sub zero...

Of course I have no pics of my son playing in the snow because he was out galavanting with his frineds and sledding. :(
But then the HEAVY snow came, over a foot, and the near impossible to believe temperatures....YUCK! Three snow days and a late start later, i't getting a little warmer. I actually did get to take the girls out again today to frolick in the snow while the boys of the house were deer hunting and before the bone chilling cold comes again next week.




I am completely OVER winter and cold weather and it just started :) Now the next two nights we get freezing rain and a couple inches more of snow.....eeeeh just pile it on what we already have!

And now to share my JBS Mercantile mid month releases!






And I wish I could tell you what in the heck is up with my camera sometimes....it is putting a blue ish tint on some of the pics. I know I have the settings right? Any suggestions??

Taking pictures....

short post for now....been experimenting with manual focusing :)

JBS Mercantile December Kit!!

I have two layouts up so far in the JBS Mercantile gallery for now and more to come on the 10th :) I havent even had time to touch the project kit but I know just what I want to do and can not wait to get started! You can find the JBS KITS on the
JBS Mercantile site!




Today all the kiddies were at school and I decided to try out making a crayon roll for my girls. Well I made two and I am going to make some more!! I am absolutely FED UP with the messes they make with their colors and markers and papers and I really really hope this helps in the process of staying a little more organized. Here is one of em...


These just might make perfect Christmas gifts for my nieces and nephews :)

lots of VINTAGE goodness

in my ETSY STORE!! I have been slowly adding to my store some goodies perfect for the holiday season....go check it out! let me know if you are interested in any custom orders and I will see what we can work out...oh and just a reminder....38 MORE DAYS til Christmas :( That is just downright insane! Here's a preview of what's in store :)

How bout a sneak peek of festive??

and just one sneak for now :)




I will tell you that this sneak peek is from the JBS November Project kit....Jenni puts together such AMAZING project kits! I have loved every one! And of course they are already sold out :(

I am overlwhelmed with inspiration!!

at the new November kit for JBS Mercantile. This up coming kit is now ranking as my absolute favorite and I am having a hard time NOT creating. Honestly....that is an AMAZING feeling :) Going to be posting some sneaks tomorrow!

As for my life, it has unfortunately not included anything scrappy related in a month :( But the reason is a good one....my little photo biz has taken off greatly and I have been busy busy busy photographing some BEAUTIFUL families. It truly makes me soooo happy that I am able to do what I love and put smiles on the clients' faces when they see their edited pictures!

We carved our punkins lat night :) Just in time for Halloween tomorrow! I already have one kid that is NOT going trick or treating cuz it 'just ain't cool' anymore to go at his age. Time is truly slipping away from me. But still have two little very excited girlies going tomorrow night!

And here is our punkins!

I can do better.....

You know I have tried blogging four different times in the month of October and blogger has not let me post ONE SINGLE TIME. I am here trying again! I will not give up!

First share is for the JBS Mercantile October kit full of gorgeousness. I think that Jenni bowlin blogged just today how there is only two or so kits left! I can definitely understand why!









as for my life beyond scrapbooking it has really taken a turn lately and for the better I am hoping. I have now launched my own photography biz and tryng to make a go at it. I am just as passionate about taking pictures as I am getting them scrapbooked. I received soo much support from my peers about my abilities that I had to try :) I do have a facebook page dedicated soley to my photos if you would like to see.....

Life's Moments Photography

The process of me even starting a business is a huge step for me considering I have been staying at home with my children now for ten plus years and running strong. I am hoping and praying that it all works out and I will be able to do this on a full time basis....pursuing my dream!

Homecoming Week!

I just love how the themes are going this year for Iowa Valley's Homecoming! first was Nerd day, then color day, fairy tale day today and rock star day tomorrow. Of course Friday is school color day!

Here are a couple pics to see what my little nerds have been looking like :)



Can't wait for tomorrow's rock star day....getting out the hair color again ;) In just a few more days, the new JBS Mercantile October kit will be debuting and you will not want to miss that! Sneak peeks to come!!!

I feel soo incredibly HONORED...

to be mentioned on Scrapscene!!! I created a Halloween haunted house with the new JBS Mercantile Halloween Bingo cards and they featured it in a post!!





You can find it RIGHT HERE!!.

And with a step by step tutorial, you can make one yourself RIGHT HERE!! Just follow the link to the JBS Wholesale site!

EVERYTHING on clearance...

Just went thru my entire etsy store and maked down everything there!! Some as much as 50% or more! Must make some room for new creations!

GO FIND YOURSELF SOMETHING NICE HERE!!

starting to get in the mood for creating holiday items with vintage finds, so the store must be clearanced out!

If you think of something that you would love me to create for you, send me a message and we will see what we can work out!

what have I been doing?

Not blogging that's for sure...I think this is a record span in between posts! Soo much going on here in the way of school, football practices, photo sessions, editing photos, keeping up with the daily chores, being a taxi, and lastly scrapbooking. Myabe it's better off if I just show pictures insteading of boring you with a lot of typing :)

First off the september JBS Mercantile kit is a MUST HAVE...



And I will keep you informed when my new tutorial will be coming up...just a sneaky peek for now :)

As for my life beyond making sure the kids make it to school on time and dressed and groomed, we here have been eating breathing living sleeping FOOTBALL!! My son's first year in full on tackle football and Jason is coaching. Never thought I would get over the fear of watching him get pummeled by other kids, but I am over it and I LOVE to watch them play. They have their first game on Sunday and I know there will be PLENTY of photos taken by me :) I have been snapping photos during practice and at one of their scrimmages already...



And speaking of photography, my little photo business is starting to take off :) I have been blessed to be able to do three different photo shoots already and have two weddings scheduled. I am soo excited for my new endeavor!

I have tons of photos on my facebook page if you would like to take a look and become a fan of my lil biz :) You can find me HERE

back to school....

and all three kiddies were really quite honestly, happy to go back! WEll this is Kamy's first year of preschool so it's all new to her!



and once the shock of a new school year is over and we get settled into our routine, life can go back to a little more normalcy as far as I am concerned :)

And coming soon JBS Mercantile September kit creations! I have two layouts done already and ready to create more more more!!!

So much going on right now...

The countdown has begun....FIVE MORE DAYS until school starts. No more children running around for days at a time wearing only their swim suits, no more trips to the pool, no more sleeping in or staying up late. My youngest starts preschool this year two days a week and I am trying very hard to grasp the concept. And at best I am failing. Seems like just a short time ago I was changing her diapers...now she has gone and grown up and all I did was blink. We will see how I do on the first day that my house is void of little voices, girlie screams, and toys cluttering every step I take.

On a scrappy note, I was flabergasted to see that my distressing techniques were highlighted on the SCRAPBOOK TRENDS BLOG! I didn't even know it was going to be there...thankfully an online friend pointed it out for me. :)

There has been a big development here for me and it's big. As you probably already know, I have a deep seeded love of photography. I have become quite obsessed with my camera and capturing all the candid moments of my children's lives. So I decided to take it just one step further. I am starting my own photography business!! This is soo incredibly exciting for me, yet at the same time soo nerve racking. I am a pretty shy and reserved person, so this new venture will require me to step up my game. A LOT!! And right now I welcome that change :) I have started a facebook page for the business called Life's Moments if you would like to check it out! If any of you reading this are close enough to me in Iowa and would like pricing information, just send me a message!

And if that weren't enough to consume my life....well it isn't....I have always wanted to try sewing the smock dresses for the girls. I love the look of the pillowcase dresses you are seeing everywhere so I thought I would give it a try. I am definitely not a pro at sewing so I needed something EASY to NOT frustrate me! I whipped up these dresses for the girls in literally like 3 hours tops!



Then of course we had to have a photo shoot :) It was already 8pm so it was almost dark here, but the girls had a blast trapsing around in their new dresses.






I think I might have to make a few more! And both of these dresses were recycled! That's the best part...no buying material. Just took two of my old dresses
that I will never wear again, cut off the bottom, and there you have it! It is pretty simple once you get over the fear of screwing it up :)